Women take charge of local healthcare organizations

Dec. 3—Kelsey Trainor, a Philadelphia lawyer, writer and producer and women's sport advocate created a shirt with a simple message: "Invest in women. Pay women. Hire women."

While the shirts are popular in the women's sports world — NCAA championship coach and basketball legend Dawn Staley models the shirt online — it's a message that Cass County healthcare organizations have put into action.

The area's four major health providers — 4C Health, Indiana Health Centers, Logansport Memorial Hospital and the Logansport State Hospital — are all currently led by women.

When Tara McVay was named the new CEO and president at LMH early this fall, she joined Carrie Cadwell, CEO and president of 4C Health, Bethany Schoenradt, superintendent at Logansport State Hospital and Ann Lundy, CEO and president of Indiana Health Centers, to form a quartet of women health leaders in the community.

"This transformation of women coming into leadership positions has been going on for quite some time," said Cadwell. "I don't think it's brand new but I think it has been slower to happen in rural areas. What I think is cool is listening to the long-term commitment to healthcare. I think it's even cooler to say that these are all women who have put in the work. They've gotten to where they are through hard work, strong work ethics and commitment to the underserved."

Vocations of service

All four health organizations have long histories in Cass County. Indiana Health Center is the youngest, having arrived just two decades ago. But Indiana Health Centers has operated within Indiana for 46 years. 4C Health will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024. Logansport Memorial Hospital celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2025. Logansport State Hospital celebrated its 135 anniversary this past summer.

Schoenradt is the first woman to hold the role of superintendent at the State Hospital.

"It only took 133 years," she said. "We bring that — not that other counterparts don't — but that care for the employee and the patients and clients that we serve. I feel really passionate to do the hard work for that mission."

Cadwell has been in her position the longest of the quartet. She joined 4C Health in 2013 and was named CEO in 2017. Schoenradt worked at 4C for two decades before moving to the state hospital. She called Cadwell a mentor.

Lundy said when she came to Cass County that Cadwell was also supportive and helpful to her.

"We really see each other as being in this together," Lundy said. "Also, I believe we see our organizations as belonging to the community. Coming relatively new to the CEO role, immediately being able to reach out to (Cadwell)—she immediately welcomed me. And not only that but she was also a mentor and a guide. That speaks volumes to be successful and have that support."

"I think you see here people who really care about our community, care about the people and want to provide healthcare — keep providing healthcare the best that we can and provide quality care and keep that in our community," said McVay.

Representation

There has been a push for young women and young people of color to see themselves represented in the media, in the workplace. The argument often goes that one cannot know they can be something until they see others who look like them doing the job.

When asked who their role models were as they grew up and started their professional careers, it came down to grandparents, parents and teachers.

"The first role models that I think of in just sheer determination were my grandmothers," Cadwell said. "Second to that I would absolutely say my mom. You don't recognize that right at the moment when you are growing up. My paternal grandmother was a single parent. She lost her husband to polio. She had to go to work at a time when working as a single mom wasn't necessarily what women did. Those kinds of things sit with me and I am reminded that sometimes when I think 'this is tough' I think back to her and I realize 'this isn't tough.' We have a lot of opportunity today."

Lundy said all four of her grandparents were immigrants. One grandmother lived with Lundy and her parents. When Lundy got her driver's license, she would drive her grandmother and her grandmother's friends to the doctor or to social activities.

"I heard the stories," she said. "I heard the stories about how they came to America when they were 17 and 18, and how they tried to acclimate, but I also heard the suffering in all of that. While I was listening to them, I knew I wanted to do something to help the marginalized."

"Thinking back to when I was a kid, I don't know if I can think of a person where I thought 'I'm going to aspire to that,'" Schoenradt said. "Having grown up in poverty, I think about school teachers who told me I could break that cycle and do better. That's really what I think of as a kid. I was fortunate to have role models and mentors in my career. I'm sitting across from one right now (Cadwell). I had the pleasure of working with Carrie for many years. I'm just super humbled. I pinch myself that I am in the role that I am and I'm delighted to serve."

Schoenradt explained that when she was growing up she thought a social worker was just someone who worked in the Department of Child Services. That was what she saw on television.

"I never had anyone tell me (what a social worker is)," she said. "I'm a clinical social worker by trade now. When they come and explain things at the high school level about careers, it's not something that gets a lot of attention. And other areas of healthcare. I don't think there is someone who comes and talks about the business of healthcare. We do have to do a better job."

McVay said she found role models in her teachers. She also had a drive to give back to the community that fueled her journey.

"That's really what I care about—taking care of people," she said. "That's what has pushed me to where I am at right now."

Altogether now

The women sat together in a Logansport Memorial Hospital waiting room. Gathered together before an interview was a great time to strategize how they could work together to benefit the community.

Of the challenges they face, one of those is the number of patients who come to the LMH emergency room when other options would be more beneficial to them.

Many of those emergency room visits involved mental health or patients who do not have a primary care doctor.

"One of the initiatives Tara and I have been working on is when people in the community are coming to the emergency room but perhaps it doesn't need to be an emergency room visit—maybe they don't have a primary care provider assigned to them," said Lundy. "We are working on collaborating so Indiana Health Centers can get them that ongoing medical care."

Over the past few years, 4C Health has introduced a number of initiatives such as its mobile crisis unit, crisis stabilization and inpatient units. Many of their crisis continuum initiatives operate 24/7 and are an alternative to an emergency room in the midst of a mental health crisis.

While her peers are able to accept walk-in patients, Schoenradt said that the State Hospital is different in that is serves as a resource for all of Indiana.

But the need for assistance from the other Cass County organizations is still there.

"We rely so much on all of our partners here to help us provide care," she said. "The average length of stay is six months typically. They are going to need dental care, medical care. Then when they begin dismissal, we begin working with the community mental health centers who are working to coordinate that care and making sure all those needs have been met at the hospital level."

Cadwell credited the State Hospital as offering some of the best specialty in the nation.

"We collaborate really well together with the care that we provide," said McVay. "We provide some similar care but we also have our niche care. So, we work together and really look at what we need together and talk about how we can provide care and make sure we are providing what the community needs."

Why they do it

Cadwell said her love for her job comes down to her passion for behavioral health.

"In the case of 4C, I like to call it the little engine that could. Nobody expects it to do something, nobody expects to get over that hill. Then we get over the hill. To me it's just this undying spirit that no matter how tough it gets, no matter what's happening, there is never a time that anyone at 4C won't dig in and find a way."

Cadwell said that while she believed in a work life balance, she valued hard work and she saw a lot of that in Cass County and other rural areas.

"I see people who are so committed to doing the work and they are doing the hard work and I value that a lot," she said.

Lundy said she was moved when a patient said they felt cared for, especially when Indiana Health Centers have been able to connect patients to services such as rides to their appointments or to a local food pantry.

"That's rewarding for everyone," she said.

"To see someone come in at the absolute worst that they can be and then to be able to discharge them, there's nothing more rewarding than that," Schoenradt said. "To be a change agent and be able to influence healthcare here in Indiana is pretty exciting. The way mental health care is evolving right now, to be able to be a part of that is rewarding."

McVay said that LMH provided care for multiple counties such as neurological care, cancer care, their OB department.

"We have people coming here to seek great quality care and we provide that for them," she said. "I enjoyed being a bedside nurse. I enjoyed the interactions with people but as you change roles and as you grow, you do have to think about how are you empowering other people, look at what kind of things are we doing for them, what type of education, what type of environment to provide the care? What can we provide for the community and ensure that quality care? In our roles, it empowers us to empower others and say these are the standards that we have and this is how we are going to provide care for the community."